This invention pertains to cable management and more particularly to a bar and bracket assembly to support and isolate cables within an enclosure.
Modern electronic equipment commonly includes extensive cabling within the enclosure which must be managed rather than allowed to dangle from locations of connection such as the backplane of the device. To effect such cable management, hanger devices are incorporated within the enclosure which packages the equipment. This cable support function takes many forms, but a frequently used structure is a cable supporting bar traversing the cabinet interior which carries cable attaching members such as clips or ties. For flexibility, the attaching members are made to be moved along the bar to provide cable attachment capability at convenient locations. It is desirable that the number of support members be variable to accommodate a greater or lesser number of cables depending upon the number and mix of functions or features that are included in the device. Thus, it should be possible to change the number of cable carriers in an existing device. A further requirement is that not only should the cable attachment capability be variable, but the carriers supported on the bar should have the attribute that it is unlikely that a carrier may become accidentally disengaged from the supporting bar while capable of ready attachment to or disengagement from the bar during maintenance or equipment upgrade.
The cable management assembly of the present invention provides a bar that is supported within an electronic equipment enclosure and supports cable carrier brackets which are movable along the bar to provide convenient locations of cable support. With the bar attached to the using device enclosure, the cable carrier brackets may be assembled to the bar and disassembled from the bar to accommodate the use of greater or fewer numbers of cables should the device be modified to add or remove features.
The preferred embodiment of the invention which is shown and described, has the bar and mounting plates for securing the bar to the device enclosure formed from a single piece of material. The bar takes the form of a downwardly opening U-shaped channel. The cable supporting brackets are also U-shaped to partially surround the bar and present cable support elements integral with one downwardly extending flange portion. The other depending flange includes inwardly projecting tabs which underlie the adjoining flange portion of the bar on which the bracket is carried to prevent removal of the bracket from the bar. The bar further includes slots in the depending flange portion adjacent the bracket tabs. By aligning the bracket tabs with the slots in the bar, the brackets may be attached to or removed from the bar. To avoid inadvertent disconnection of the bracket from the bar, the slots are formed as irregularly extending channels to require that the bracket and the integral tabs be moved in multiple directions between the condition of attachment to the bar and disassociation from the bar.